Air conditioned buffing and polishing system



Dec. 12, 1939; G, TODD H ,1 2,182,952

AIR CONDITIONED BUFFING AND POLISHING SYSTEM Filed ApriI 30, 1938 2Sheets-Sheet 1' F2621.

HUM IDIFIER I INVENTORS BY WM 4 M Dec. 12, 1939. G, TODD A 2,182,952

AIR CONDITIONED BUFFING AND POLISHING SYSTEM Filed April 30, 1938 .2Sheets-Sheet 2 V {7W JAHDCA/ c vrwm Izaak/l5 ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 12, 1939 PATENT @FFRQE AIR CONDITIONED BUFFING AND POLISH-ING SYSTEM I Guerin Todd, Shrewsbury, and Octavius Knight,

N. J., assignors to Hanson-Van Winkle-Manning Company, Matawan, N. J., acorporation of New Jersey Application April 30, 1938, Serial No. 205,158

1 Claim.

This invention relates to the buffing and pOlishing of materials orobjects, and has for its objects to increase production, to economize insupplies and materials used in bufilng and pol- 5 ishing, and to improvethe character of the work. Other objects and advantages will be apparentto those skilled in the art.

The terms bufling and polishing are not strictly synonymous in the art,but the principles of the present invention are applicable to both ofthese operations, and to simplify the description the terms buffing andbuff will be employed to include either of these fields of work, exceptwhere a distinction between bufling and polishing, or buffs andpolishing wheels, is clearly intended.

The heat developed by friction in bufilng operations causes atemperature rise in the work piece, the buffing composition and the buffitself.

In many bufiing operations the temperature rise imposes a limit on thespeed of production, the economical use of supplies or equipment, or thequality of the work done. Some materials which might otherwise be buffedto advantage, are of such low melting point or softening point that theycannot be satisfactorily'bufied with ordinary equipment in common use.These and, other disadvantages or limitations in the buffing art arelargely eliminated by the present invention,

in accordance with which the buff is supplied with refrigerated air orother gas to prevent or limit the temperature rise incident to thebufiing operation. The principles of the invention may readily beapplied in such a way as to bring as about a temperature reduction inthe article considerably below room temperature, so that objectsnormally too soft at room temperature to withstand bufing may behardened sufiiciently to enable them to be buffed. This may be done, for

40 example, by precooling the work before buflln'g, or by cooling thework during buffing, or by both of these expedients. Precooling the workpiece may also be employed to advantage in the case of materials otherthan those of low melting point,

45 and especially where high thermal conductivity and specific heat ofthe material tend to reduce the local temperature rise at the surfacebeing buffed. Likewise, fats, greases, oils, waxes and similar supplies,which are normally liquid or too 550 soft to be advantageously employedin bumng compositions or wheel dressings under ordinary conditions, maybe congealed upon the buff to adapt them for use in bufing.

Another preconditioning feature of the inven- 55 tion is thepreconditioning of the air or other gas supplied to the buff, in respectto its moisture content, or its chemical constituents or composition.Examples of such uses of the invention are the increase or decrease inthe moisture content or humidity of the air or gas, the modifi- 5 cationof its ability to support combustion, as by the use of carbon dioxide inpartial or complete substitution for the normal atmospheric air, or theintroduction of a chemically acting gas where special effects aredesired. 10

Several embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of examplein the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 represents diagrammatically a buffing system comprising thebumng wheel asseml5 bly in conjunction with means for drying orhumidifying, and refrigerating air and supplying it to the bufi.

Figure 2 represents diagrammatically in front elevation a type ofrefrigerating cabinet some- 20 what different from that shown in Figurel, and including a shelf compartment for precooling pieces of work to bebufied.

Figure 3 is a side elevation with parts in central vertical section,illustrating a type of ven- 25 tilated buff assembly which may beemployed in carrying out some forms of the invention.

Figure 4 is a transverse section thereof on the line fl-t of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic end elevation of 30 a buff enclosed in a hoodprovided with an air or gas inlet.

Figure 6 is a side elevation thereof with the hood in vertical sectionon the line 6-5 of Figure 5.

Figure '7 is an end elevation, with parts broken away, showing a hoodedbuff having an enclosed chamber through which the work passes whilebeing buffed. I

Figure 8 is a top plan view, showing diagram- 40 matlcally theapplication of some of the features of the invention to automaticmachinery.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, in Figure l the bufiassembly is indicated at It. This bull may be of the ventilated type,such as shown in the U. SQ patent to Zucker, No.

1,573,961. We have illustrated, for example, in Figures 3 and a, aventilated buff in which the bufiing spindle H has distributed aroundits periphery a number of longitudinally extending surface grooves orchannels E2 to which access of air is provided by a corresponding seriesof ports it formed in the hub portion of the inner flange M. A hood I5is supported by any suitable means so as to surround the ports it, with-H], which latter is secured by the usual nut 20 on the threaded outerend of the spindle I I. The spacers 18 which intervene between each pairof buiI sections I! may be of any suitable type admitting of the flow ofair outward between the sections l'l. They are diagrammatically shown inFigure 3 as corrugated discs in which each corrugation is radiallydisposed about the center, and flat rings 2i are welded or otherwisesecured near the outer periphery to prevent closure of the radial airpassages by displacement of the buff sections into the corrugations.Other types of ventilated bufis may be employed.

Referring again to Figure 1, the air conduit I6 is provided with a handvalve 22, to control or adjust the admission of air coming from therefrigerator unit 23. The refrigerator unit herein illustrated may be ofany suitable type, the coil 24 representing by way of example a brinecoil or the cooling coil of an electric refrigerator. The refrigeratorunit 23 communicates by way of a passage or conduit 25 with a dryer unit26 into which air enters under pressure or suction by wa'y of the intake21. The dryer may be of any type, supplied for example with calciumchloride or other drying medium. The unit 26 may be supplied withmoistening equipment instead of drying medium, when humidifying isdesired. The refrigerator unit 23 may be replaced by a somewhatdifferent type of unit as that illustrated, for example, in Figure 2,which comprises the dry ice tank 28 over which is provided a cabinet 29furnished with shelves 38 on which work pieces 3! may be placed forprecooling, prior to being subjected to bufiing. The hinged doors 32normally keep the cabinet closed. A wall 33 may be provided in the dryice tank 28 to maintain an open passageway 34 by which the dry airentering through the connection 25 has access to the cabinet space 29,

It will be understood that the circulation of air or other gas throughthe apparatus described may be entirely induced by the rotation of thebuff or by pressure, and that the air or gas is preconditioned to bedifierent from the ambient atmosphere of the bufling room.

Instead of the type of air connection leading to the buffing unit, asshownin Figure 3, a modification, such as illustrated in Figures 5 and6, may be employed. In this form of the invention, the air pipe l6enters a hood 35 which encloses the buff unit 10 and is provided with ahinged cover 36 normally closed by latches 31. The bufi unit It] may beof the ordinary type or of the ventilated type such as theconstructionalready described in connection with Figures 3 and 4 so thatair is drawn through the spindle into the spaces between the bufisections, as well as being distributed outside of the buff unit withinthe en closing hood. Figure 5 illustrates a conveyor 38 carrying thework pieces 39 through the buffing operation.

In Figure 7, the air or gas pipe l6 leads into a hood 40 provided with ahinged cover 4|, which may be similar to that illustrated in Figures 5and 6. The hood 40 encloses the bufi unit 42 which may be similar to'those described in connection with Figures 5 and 6. The lower part ofthe hood 40 extends a suitable distance along the direction of travel ofa conveyor 48 to form point compositions.

the extensions 44 and 45 which have swing or drop doors 48, 41. Thisconstruction provides a precooling space 48 into which the work pieces49 are carried by the conveyor 43 on their way to passage through thebufllng operation. Preconditioned air or other gas may be deliveredlocally or directly into this cooling space 48 by way of the pipe I6 andwithdrawn by way of the pipe I6 It will be obvious that the drop doors46, 41 open and close automatically as the work pieces pass through.Since the space 48 may be substantially closed ofi from the outside air,by suitable design of the walls, this construction provides anapproximately closed work chamber and may advantageously be employedwhere it is desired to subject the work piece to special gases otherthan normal atmospheric air. The withdrawal of gases by way of the pipel6 may be under suction so as to maintain the pressure within the spaceor chamber 48 somewhat below atmospheric pressure and thereby minimizethe escape of the special gas into the atmosphere, while at the sametime reducing any tendency of the gas to pass into the space immediatelysurrounding the buff.

In Figure 8 we have illustrated one form in which the invention may beapplied to automatic bufling machines. It will be understood that thedetails of the bufiing machine per se form no part of our presentinvention, and that many types are familiar to those skilled in the art.The type we have chosen for diagrammatic illustration is assumed to bethat in which a revolving automatic indexing head 50 is provided withwork holders or chucks 5i distributed around the axis and carrying thework pieces 52 under the buff 53, where the work holders revolve. Themachine is loaded and unloaded at the position where the unoccupiedchuck is illustrated in the drawings. In applying our invention to sucha machine, the indexing head 50 is provided in the present example witha circumferential series of cams 54 on a plane above that of the workholders 52. The cams 54 intermittently operate against a roller 55 toopen a valve 56 in the air conduit 5'! which leads into a hood 58enclosing a buff unit such as already illustrated and described, or ofany other suitable type. The earns 54 and the valve mechanism describedare so positioned that the valve 56 automatically opens as the workpiece approaches the buffing station, and closes as the work pieceleaves the bufling station. In this way, the supply of refrigerated orotherwise preconditioned air or gas flows only while the work piece isbeing bufied.

The use of refrigerated air, and especially when it is supplied underpressure, enhances the cooling effect beyond that obtained by ordinaryventilation of the bufi. This improvement is due not only to the lowertemperature of the air but also to its greater density due to its lowertemperature and its higher pressure. The relative humidity of the air isnaturally increased due to the reduction in temperature. This improvesthe wearing quality of cloth bufis and a number of other materials usedin bufiing and polishing. The ability to use lower melting pointcompositions represents an economy, as such compositions are, as a rule,much cheaper than the higher melting Furthermore, the composition willadhere better to the wheel and the wheel may be operated at higher speedwithout fear of burning. Any tendency of the work to oxidize, whichwould prevent adherence of a subsequent plate, is considerably reducedby the reduced temperature, and may be further reduced by the partial orcomplete'substitution of the atmospheric air by carbon dioxide (forexample, from dry ice), or other gases having less tendency to oxidizethe work. Some materials, such as low melting metals and alloys andplastics, take a better finish cold than hot. Glue on faced wheels willhave less tendency to soften and lose its grip on the abrasive whenoperated in the refrigerated environment.

In the foregoing description of certain embodiments of the invention, itis believed that those skilled in the art will derive sufficientinformation to enable them to apply the invention in many ways, inaddition to those specifically shown and described. Cloth wheels,various types of wheel brushes, polishing wheels of wood, felt, canvas,and in fact any of the usual materials employed, either faced with glueand emery or other composition, or unfaced, may be employed within theprinciples of the invention.

We claim:

Apparatus of the character described, comprising in combination abufling unit, means for carrying work pieces successively into and outof bufflng position with respect to said buffing unit, means forproviding and supplying to said bufiing unit a preconditionedatmosphere, control means for turning on and shutting off the supply ofpreconditioned atmosphere, and means coordinated with the movement' ofsaid carrying means for actuating said control means as each work pieceenters and leaves the bufling position.

GUERIN TODD. OCTAVIUS KNIGHT.

